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Executive Summary Important opportunities to decrease the risks to the nation from hazardous weather and global climate change and to create economic advantages through better understanding and prediction will be available to the administration that takes office in January 1989. In contrast to Mark Twain's observation that "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it," today there is much that is being done, and even more that must be done. The atmospheric sciences community is prepared to help carry out the needed actions. There are two areas in which action should be taken: protecting life and property, and assessing and preparing for coming dramatic changes in climate. This report recommends specific actions and programs. It has been prepared jointly by the American Meteorological Society (AMS), a nonprofit scientific society of 10,000 members, and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a consortium of 57 universities. Protecting Life and Property Tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, blizzards, and severe thunderstorms accompanied by hail and microbursts are collectively more frequent in, and pose a greater threat to, the United States than any other nation. No part of the country is immune. Significantly improved warnings of these threatening, sometimes catastrophic events are now within reach. Weather on a regional scale also has significant and pervasive effects on the nation's agriculture, water resources, transportation, industry, and economy. Improved weather prediction, which could provide guidance a week and longer in advance, would provide substantial economic benefits to the nation. A key to mitigating the effects of severe weather and flood events is an improved warning system that will provide the public and industry with the weather information they need, when they need it. This can be achieved by combining new observational and information processing systems with a research program focused on understanding the development of severe storms. The nation is already moving forward with new 1
